Page 63 of Stalked to the Altar

I cracked my neck, then my knuckles, and searched for calm. Don Ricci has known me since I was a baby. He knew just the right things to say in order to piss me off. But he wasn’t all-knowing. He wasn’t even all-powerful. That fucker didn’t understand that I could watch his kingdom burn down to the ground from within, if so inclined. He’d never see it coming.

Puffing up my chest, I walked behind him, putting away my gun. My father stood in his office in a casual suit. He nodded to me, and I ducked my chin. A recognition for stalling the Don long enough for him to get ready.

Viktor stumbled into the side door with blood-shot eyes, like he’d been up for a few days straight. As far as I knew, we had nothing happening that he needed to enforce. I narrowed my gaze. My brother couldn’t be trusted. He hated that he was the second born and frequently tried to usurp and undermine my position.

“What is the meaning of this, Giuseppe?” My father had dropped all protocol since the Don’s unexpected arrival was inappropriate.

Don Ricci drew himself up to full height and glared at my father. “One of your own has betrayed me.”

“Oh? And what did they do?” He crossed his arms while observing the room, and I noted that several of our soldiers started filing in.

“They took something that wasn’t theirs to take.” He flashed his weapon and bared his teeth at all of us.

But what good was a Don when he was all alone in a room full of blood thirsty Russians?

Before I could interject, rapid gunfire went off outside. Like the middle of a battlefield, it seemingly surrounded us.

“Sir, we are under attack,” a loyal soldier stumbled in holding his bloody shoulder with his one good hand and his gun hanging limply from the other.

“Clearly, you imbecile.” My father started barking orders to the many soldiers who had been pulled from their strategic posts to deal with our unexpected guests.

Don Ricci stood regally in the middle of the room with a sly smile on his face. He knew. He knew that his dramatic arrival would leave us vulnerable as our best men were in here with him rather than out there.

My father turned to the don once more. “You come here under the guise of betrayal and attack my home? MY PEOPLE?”

My father pulled his weapon, but the don was ready.

Italian foot soldiers flooded into the office, and everyone had their guns pointed at someone else’s head. Stalemate.

My father got his temper under control once he realized how dire this situation was. “What do you want?”

Don Ricci’s muscles tensed up. “I want the bastardo son of yours who fucked my wife and knocked her up with the spawn I just murdered in cold blood.”

I felt my heart stop. Giana was pregnant?

My head spun. We hadn’t used condoms, but she’d swore to me one night that she was on birth control. It was the only reason I’d risk thrusting myself balls deep inside of her and filling her with my seed.

“Neither would dare,” my father sneered. “I could kill you right now for the insult.” He deliberately raised his eyebrow and thrust out his chest. Like there was no doubt in his mind none of us would betray him like that.

Viktor lowered his weapon and cleared his throat. “Alexie would, Father.”

There was a lull before an explosion of sound. Don Ricci fired his weapon, hitting me in the shoulder. I fell to one knee with a grunt. Shock and disbelief raced through my body, but I ignored it. Just like I was trained to do.

My father’s speed around his desk belied his age. He cocked his gun, but he wasn’t pointing it at Giuseppe.

He held it up to my head with a hardened look in his eye. “Is this true?”

I said nothing. Fucking Viktor! I blanked my stare, hoping that he would put his faith in me, even if I didn’t deserve it. Even if it risked the entire Bratva. But I could see the sadness bleeding in. The disappointment in his gaze. He couldn’t risk leaving me alive now that we had all these witnesses. I could see resignation set in as he prepared himself for what he had to do.

“Stop! Stop!” A bleeding woman stumbled into the fray.

Giana Ricci was almost unrecognizable, her face riddled with bruises and blood. Her stomach caved in like she’d been kicked too many times. I could see her life pooling out from between her legs.

At the interruption, someone knocked into my father, causing his gun to fly out of his hands. The Ricci’s began screaming at each other in Italian. A tug on my bloodied jacket got me moving. I didn’t turn my back on the room, but stepped away slowly, hoping no one noticed my movement toward the bookcase.

If only I were so lucky.

Viktor’s eyes snapped on mine and he opened his mouth to alert the room, but the sound of a bullet rang loud, drowning out his warning.

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